StepSister Press

Bitchin' Bodies:
young women talk about body dissatisfaction

by Terri L. Russ, images by Karin E. Lekan
Available September 25, 2008
ISBN 978-0-9802300-1-7
LCCN 2008932594
soft cover/US $19.95

Bitchin' Bodies began as a series of individual and small group interviews with young college women in the United States. Over a seven-year research period, Terri used these conversations to create a compelling analysis of body shape discourse and the way it is experienced, shared, and reframed by young women in conversation. While most of us are aware of eating disorders, Terri's approach encompasses the everyday experiences of being dissatisfied with personal appearance, and the impact of these preoccupations on our interactions, goals, and participation in society.

Divided into sections exploring personal, interpersonal, and cultural dimensions of body dissatisfaction, this book serves at once as a comfort for personal reading, a resource for young women and those working with them on these issues, and a compelling introduction to topics in feminism and communication studies. Karin E. Lekan's images complicate this text by creating a surreal world in which strangely empowered women move with a sense of reflection in relation to their bodies, which sometimes literally come apart in pieces. Her images appear throughout the book, creating an uncanny interpretation of the world Terri describes.

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